Hong Kong authorities have confiscated two massive shipments of elephant tusks, totaling 1,209 tusks, stemming from Kenya and Tanzania. Representing over 600 poached elephants, the shipments are estimated to be worth $3.4 million on the black market.
Hong Kong authorities have confiscated two massive shipments of elephant tusks, totaling 1,209 tusks, stemming from Kenya and Tanzania. Representing over 600 poached elephants, the shipments are estimated to be worth $3.4 million on the black market.
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African elephants are being decimated for their tusks in recent years with heavily-armed and well-connected poachers—backed by criminal syndicates—killing off whole herds in some cases.
The shipments represented the largest bust of elephant tusks in Hong Kong history, and highlights the growing threat of the ivory trade to elephant survival.
The bust also comes at an inopportune time for Tanzania, which has applied to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to selloff its stockpile of ivory, worth about $55.5 million. The nation says that proceeds from the sale would be used for anti-poaching efforts, but critics contend that allowing a legal sale of ivory during a poaching crisis sends mixed messages and will further endanger wild elephant populations.
Article continues at ENN affiliate, Mongabay
Image credit: Hong Kong and Guangdong Customs
